Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Game Picks - Wednesday: May 16, 2012

The losing streak continues with another night of MLB game picks falling below the .500
mark. Let's recap. C.C. Sabathia lost. Stephen Strasburg lost. Jake Peavy had a six run
lead and his team lost. Johnny Cueto lost. That's three heretofore undefeated pitchers all
taking a loss. The Royals beat the Rangers again. And picking against Wade Miley was
pretty stupid.

Oh, and to top everything off. All this household's favorite television shows are ending with
cliffhangers, proving once again that network television hates for its characters to ever be
happy and all these writers and producers can suck a rock. It is always good television to kill
off characters we have invested emotional energy in. Not.

With this slump now eight days old, this week is pretty much beyond redemption. And gains
made in the month and the season are rapidly eroding. It is time for a big day. It is time to
stop this nonsense. Come on, William, you can do this!

Wednesday's picks:

The Dodgers over the Padres: The first game out of the chute today is a puzzler.
As we saw yesterday, it is not a good week for undefeated pitchers. And Chris Capuano is
5-0. Clayton Richard pretty well stinks outside of Petco Park. But he is pretty good there. So
what to do? Pick the undefeated pitcher and hope for the best.

The Tigers over the Twins: Two sinkerball pitchers in Nick Blackburn and Rick Porcello.
Both have been leaving those pitches up in the zone. One of them has to get it down. The
Tigers are giving this picker fits. But they are the choice.

The Nationals over the Pirates: Gio Gonzalez is having fun in the National League and is
4-1. Erik Bedard had back spasms the last time he tried to pitch and lasted an inning. Not
going there.

The Mariners over the Indians: Really have no idea with this one. Felix Hernandez will be
solid. You know that. But what of Ubaldo Jimenez? The Mariners are offensively sagging.
But Ubaldo could be the ticket. Or not. Who knows.

The Yankees over the Blue Jays: The Yankees cannot put a streak together. The offense
is still sputtering when not hitting a homer (0-8). The Blue Jays are a complete mystery to
this picker. Cannot figure them out for anything. Kyle Drabek could be sensational. Or he
could have a meltdown. Hiroki Kuroda could keep the Blue Jays in check. Or he could give
up homers to Encarnation and/or Bautista.

The Rays over the Red Sox: Another game up in the air. Clay Buchholz was much
better his last time out. Jeremy Hellickson is undefeated but has struggled in the past
against the Red Sox. The Bay Rays are at home and they have been good there this
season. Going with that.

The Mets over the Reds: Now this game feels easy. Johan Santana should be better
than Mike Leake. Easy pick. Watch this be the only pick that goes wrong.

The Marlins over the Braves: It is games like this where Mark Buehrle earns his
paycheck. Mike Minor has really struggled and if he struggles in this one, the Braves will
have some decisions to make.

The Brewers over the Astros: This game is a setup. Can feel it. The setup is to pick the
red hot Bud Norris and the Astros at home. They the Brewers knock him out early and make
the pick look stupid. This picker is on to it though amd will go with Randy Wolf.

The Cubs over the Phillies: This game also feels like a setup. Whenever the Phillies go
with Kyle Kendrick, they make it appear that they don't care if they win or not. But Matt Garza
will foil the obvious plot.

The Orioles over the Royals: This game features two pitchers that simply won't be given
definitive jobs. It always seems their spots are on the bubble. Tommy Hunter and Felipe
Paulino will say, "the heck with you," to their teams and this will be a brilliant pitcher's duel
won by the Orioles bullpen.

The Diamondbacks over the Rockies: Coors Field is always the wild card in these
games. And it has been unkind to Jamie Moyer, which seems natural since he relies on
movement. The difference in this game will be Patrick Corbin, who is pretty sharp to this
point.

The White Sox over the Angels: The firing of Mickey Hatcher was so bogus that the
Angels need to lose on principle alone. Of course, Gavin Floyd can help the cause. Jerome Williams goes for the Angels.

The Giants over the Cardinals: Madison Bumgarner wasn't his usual self his last time
out. He should get back on track in this one at home. Jaime Garcia is a bad inning waiting
to happen.

And the Game of the Day!

The Rangers over the Athletics: Yu Darvish should win this one, especially if the Rangers
can get to Tommy Milone. The Rangers at home is always a good pick.

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